Porto Vecchio
Blue Sky's Voyage
George & Michael
Sun 20 Aug 2006 12:09
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Dear Friends
We're in a very sheltered anchorage in the
Golfe de Porto Vecchio on the SE coast of Corsica: an excellent natural harbour
that has been used for thousands of years. Apparently the Toreens invaded and
took over from the megalithic culture around 1500 BC - so quite a while ago -
and of course the Romans and Genoese made good use of the site, the present town
dating from the Genoese.
We have the benefit of complimentary WiFi from the Casadelmar hotel just by
us. so we managed our preferred Sunday morning routine of coffee and Sunday
papers on the laptops.
 (Casadelmar just over George's right
shoulder.)
The marinas in the south seem a little busy
and the word "complet" rings in our ears: I think this is partly as it's a busy
area and partly because of the Sardinian tax bringing even more boats to
Corsica. As we're self sufficient, we save plenty of money in berthing fees
and the sea here was mirror-smooth last night and completetly silent, so much
more pleasant than the marina anyway.
Since Campomoro, we spent a comfortable
night in a tiny anchorage on the west coast and I decided to take the time to
fix a stern line ashore to a rock, to keep us bows-on to the slight swell in the
night. (The wind drops in the night and as Blue Sky swings at her anchor, she is
part of the time beam-on to the swell, causing an uncomfortable rolling. If she
is tied bows-on to the swell, the light pitching is much more comfortable
and just rocks you to sleep.)
We did have a look at Bonifacio, an
extraordinary port best viewed from an aerial photo I borrowed from the
internet. South is top right of photo, the marina in the far left edge and our
mooring arrowed.
 Bonifacio is possibly the busiest habour
we've ever seen (or hope to again!) and even though we arrived at midday there
was no chance of getting a berth in the marina. You could virtually walk across
the harbour by jumping between the boats, but fortunately we managed a complete
tour without any bumps, though I couldn't say it was relaxing. We managed to
moor stern-to the cliff as shown by the arrow, but as other yachts were coming
and going all the time, often tripping each others anchors in the process, we
decided not to go ashore and leave Blue Sky. The best strategy would be to
anchor safely nearby and take a taxi to Bonifacio I think.
Here's another borrowed photo showing the
harbour entrance, town beyond and the amazing limestone cliffs
 We then came round the narrow channel on the
southern tip of Corsica, making full use of our excellent nav systems and had a
good night tucked in to a sheltered bay near some fish farms while a 4-5 wind
kept blowing all night. The lesson in the morning was that you need to give the
watermaker a sporting chance with some reasonably clean water - it didn't like
the fish farm water at all and refused to make, but as soon as we got out into
clear water it was fine.
In the coming week we plan to make our way
back round the west coast to pick up Becky at Ile Rousse on the Bank Holiday
Monday and then Barny 2 days later. We hope they manage the travel arrangements
OK !
I'll sign off for now with the message that
a french yacht has just anchored nearby, which as she went past us, showed
the comforting name on the stern "Le Bar est Ouvert" - what good
company!
Best Wishes
George and Michael
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